Afghanistan

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A Key Figure Makes Symbolic Return to Afghanistan
A Key Figure Makes Symbolic
Return to Afghanistan
the rundown
Aug 17, 2021 11:27 AM CDT

A Key Figure Makes Symbolic Return to Afghanistan

Abdul Ghani Baradar, a former prisoner, is a co-founder of the Taliban

(Newser) - Americans might soon become more familiar with the name Abdul Ghani Baradar, a pivotal figure in the Taliban who arrived back in the country on Tuesday for the first time in a decade. Coverage:
  • A co-founder: Baradar is described as the Taliban's de facto leader by the Washington Post
...

How Many People Aboard Your Jet? 'Holy ... Holy Cow'

Air Force C-17 flies 640 Afghans to safety

(Newser) - Desperate Afghans clinging to an Air Force transport plane at the Kabul airport Monday might end up being one of the most enduring images of the Taliban takeover. Now, a related one has surfaced that will surely be in the conversation. As Defense One reports, it shows 640 Afghans crammed...

Taliban Makes a Vow to All Afghan Women

Officials say right to education will be protected, urge women to join government

(Newser) - An Afghan journalist showed her outrage Monday during a Pentagon press briefing, speaking of the fears of the Afghan people, especially women, now that the Taliban has marched on the capital. "I'm very upset today because Afghan woman didn't expect that overnight all the Taliban came,"...

US Officials Fooled Themselves Into This Mess Over 20 Years

Daniel Silverberg and Fred Kaplan see a mission that was misguided and unsuccessful all along

(Newser) - Afghanistan was never America's to lose. The US and its Afghan allies did not, at any point, control the country, Daniel Silverberg writes in the Atlantic . Instead, officials in Washington deluded themselves and each other for two decades, until President Biden was left with nothing but bad choices . A...

US Reaches Out to Russia, China on Afghanistan

Merkel calls developments 'bitter, dramatic, and awful'

(Newser) - The Biden administration is reaching out to top rivals Russia and China as the situation in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate amid a scramble to evacuate Americans, other foreigners and at-risk Afghans from the Kabul airport. The outreach also comes amid concerns that either or both Moscow and Beijing might stymie...

Female Mayor Is 'Waiting for Taliban to Kill Her'

'There is no one to help me or my family,' says Zarifa Ghafari

(Newser) - In 2018, Zarifa Ghafari became one of Afghanistan's first female mayors—and the country's youngest mayor. Now, the 27-year-old says she is at her home in Kabul, waiting for the Taliban to kill her. "There is no one to help me or my family. I'm just...

Biden: 'I Stand Squarely Behind My Decision'

'I’ve learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw US forces'

(Newser) - With the Taliban in control of Afghanistan and desperate Afghans clinging to US planes amid chaos at Kabul's airport, President Biden is defending his decision to pull American troops out of the country. "I stand squarely behind my decision,” he said at the White House Monday, per...

Afghans Cling to US Plane, Fall to Their Deaths

Disturbing footage shows people pressed against a US Air Force C-17 as it takes off

(Newser) - The videos are unbearable to watch. In one, people desperate to flee Afghanistan cling to the side of a US Air Force plane as it tries to take off. "How petrified does an individual have to be to risk everything and just try to physically crush yourself onto the...

Biden, Trump Play the Blame Game
President, Predecessor
Play the Blame Game
the rundown
Aug 16, 2021 1:17 PM CDT

President, Predecessor Play the Blame Game

Biden, Trump are publicly criticizing each other over Afghanistan

(Newser) - As the finger-pointing continues over Afghanistan, two men whose decisions helped get us here are taking potshots at each other. That would be President Biden and former President Trump. Coverage:
  • Trump: The former president has unloaded on Biden in a series of statements, including one on Monday: “Afghanistan is
...

What Newspaper Editorials Are Saying About Afghanistan
Wall Street Journal Has
Scathing Words for Biden
OPINION
Aug 16, 2021 11:20 AM CDT

Wall Street Journal Has Scathing Words for Biden

Highlights of editorials from big newspapers on Afghanistan

(Newser) - It's not only individual pundits weighing in on Afghanistan but newspaper editorial boards as well. The Wall Street Journal , for instance, skewers President Biden in particularly harsh manner (details below), while other big papers also chide his decision-making. Biden will get a chance to defend himself Monday afternoon when...

Biden's Line in July About Saigon Is Back to Haunt Him

One critic calls the withdrawal 'Saigon on steroids'

(Newser) - The White House is working very hard to tamp down comparisons of what's happening in Kabul to what happened in Saigon in 1975. But for now, a statement that President Biden made only last month doesn't appear to be aging well:
  • July 8: "There's going to
...

'One of the Saddest Images' Out of Afghanistan

People at Kabul's airport are desperate to get out

(Newser) - The dire situation in Afghanistan might be demonstrated most clearly by scenes at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. The BBC's Nicola Careem tweeted this video Monday of people jamming a bridge to a parked jet in hopes of getting out. "This is, perhaps, one of the saddest...

Taliban Have Seized the Presidential Palace
Taliban Have Seized
the Presidential Palace
the rundown
Aug 16, 2021 1:20 AM CDT

Taliban Have Seized the Presidential Palace

Government collapses as Taliban declare the war 'over'

(Newser) - Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, on Sunday fell to the Taliban, completing the militant group's takeover of the country so quickly that even the Taliban's co-founder admitted in an evening video statement the group was surprised at the speed. Hours earlier, the Taliban had entered Kabul as Afghanistan'...

Afghan President Leaves Nation as Taliban Reach Kabul

Ashraf Ghani flies out with militants on brink of total takeover of Afghanistan

(Newser) - Afghanistan’s embattled president left the country Sunday, joining his fellow citizens and foreigners in a stampede fleeing the advancing Taliban and signaling the end of a 20-year Western experiment aimed at remaking Afghanistan, per the AP . The Taliban, which for hours had been in the outskirts of Kabul, announced...

After Afghan Cities Fall Without a Fight, Biden Announces New Deployment

Another 1K Americans will go for a 'safe drawdown'

(Newser) - The Taliban advance through Afghanistan rolled on Saturday unchecked, with government forces surrendering territory without a fight. When the central province of Daykundi fell, a lawmaker said, only two gunshots were fired in the capital. President Biden announced a series of steps, while reiterating that he will not "pass...

Amid Stunning Taliban Advance, Afghan Leader Finally Speaks

Ashraf Ghani: We won't give up our 'achievements' over past 2 decades

(Newser) - Afghan President Ashraf Ghani delivered a televised speech on Saturday, his first public appearance since the recent Taliban gains, in which he vowed not to give up the "achievements" of the 20 years since the US toppled the Taliban following the 9/11 attacks. "We have started consultations, inside...

Americans Don&#39;t Seem to Care About Afghanistan (For Now)
Biden's Tone
on Afghans'
Plight Is
'Strikingly Cold'
the rundown
Aug 13, 2021 1:21 PM CDT

Biden's Tone on Afghans' Plight Is 'Strikingly Cold'

President is resolute about withdrawal, but criticism mounts as Taliban keeps advancing

(Newser) - President Biden is enduring the harshest criticism of his presidency to date in the wake of the Taliban's swift spread throughout Afghanistan. As of Friday afternoon, the group had completed its takeover of the south and now controls two-thirds of the nation, reports the AP . All eyes are now...

Panic, Disbelief in Kabul as More Cities Fall to Taliban

Group has completed sweep of southern Afghanistan

(Newser) - The Taliban's offensive in Afghanistan continued with terrifying speed Friday, with another three provincial capitals falling to the militants. Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province, was under Taliban control Friday after weeks of heavy fighting. Lawmakers in Uruzgat and Zabul provinces say their capitals have fallen to the Taliban,...

Taliban Take Afghanistan&#39;s 2nd- and 3rd-Largest Cities
Kandahar Falls 
to Taliban
Aug 13, 2021 1:26 AM CDT

Kandahar Falls to Taliban

Herat, the country's 3rd-largest city, does also

(Newser) - The Taliban captured two major Afghan cities, the country's second- and third-largest after Kabul, and a strategic provincial capital on Thursday, further squeezing the embattled government just weeks before the end of the American military mission in Afghanistan. The seizure of Kandahar and Herat marks the biggest prizes yet...

US Sends Troops to Help Evacuate Embassy

With Taliban closing in on Kabul, administration asks that its diplomatic post be spared

(Newser) - If the Taliban successfully storm Kabul, the US is asking that they please spare the American Embassy. In the meantime, troops are being sent to Afghanistan to help evacuate Americans stationed at the embassy. Other diplomatic stations in the country already have been closed as the Taliban overrun the nation...

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